The Berbers are a proud race with one of the longest histories on earth. They called North Africa their home long before the arrival of the Arabs. Their culture is believed to date back more than 4,000 years and ancient Berber states called Mauritania and Numidia existed in classical times.

Between the 11th and 13th centuries, two great Berber dynasties – the Almoravids and the Almohads – much of north-west Africa and parts of Spain. Today, there are substantial Berber populations in Morocco and Algeria, plus smaller numbers in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.

When travelling around Africa, one of the main pleasures is the contact with the locals. There are thousands of languages spoken all over the continent, but each one has a word for “hello”. We look at the ‘African Greetings’ guide by Anouk Zijlma, country by country.Including the English and French, which many countries also use, here is how to say "hello" in:

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